Some ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ fans have taken issue with this year’s line-up, largely due to the differences between the male and female contestants.
This summer’s series has an ‘Eye Of The Storm’ theme, with each of the famous contestants having been at the centre of a “media storm” to some degree.
However, Thursday night’s launch show had a lot of viewers questioning Channel 5’s definition of a “media storm”, noting that the famous men and women were in the house for different reasons.
Among the male housemates are former ‘TOWIE’ star Dan Osborne, who was sacked from the reality show after an audio recording of him threatening the mother of his child was unearthed.
Hardeep Singh Kohli, meanwhile, was suspended from ‘The One Show’ for six months due to allegations of sexual harassment, after which his contract was never renewed.
Also on the line-up is footballer Jermaine Pennant, who was charged with drink-driving in 2005, while already on a driving ban, and spoke recently of his regrets about the way he’s treated women in his past.
The female housemates include US actress Kirstie Alley, who discussed her feelings about being fat-shamed in the media while discussing her own “media storm” and soap star Roxanne Pallett, who spoke about being trolled in the wake of her recent car crash.
The line-up also includes model Chloe Ayling, who was drugged and kidnapped last year after being led to believe she was taking part in a photo-shoot in Milan, only for the media to doubt her story upon her return.
This disparity between the men and women’s media storms left a bad taste for some viewers, particularly in the wake of the Me Too movement, with many questioning why many of the men were allowed on the show…
Earlier this year, ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ ran a series with the theme ‘Year Of The Woman’, to commemorate 100 years since the first women in Britain were given the right to vote.
The series was won by drag performer Courtney Act, who won over the public as she educated her fellow housemates about issues relating to gender and sexuality.